What up with Mile-End’s Swiss Lane?
Great post from one-time Mile-Ender, Christopher DeWolf (those are his photos, above and below), about the mysterious Swiss Lane (otherwise known as Ruelle Swiss).
Christopher wonders what is up with this “lane”, but he can’t find any information on it. He says:
I can’t find any clues as to the origins of Swiss Lane’s name. The city’s otherwise comprehensive Répertoire historique des toponymes montréalais contains no reference to anything Swiss or Suisse. The only mention I can find in the Lovell’s Directory indicates that Swiss Lane was “not built upon.” (Its entry in the 1935 directory is found right under Swastika Avenue, which was apparently a lane off Ste. Famille Street.) So what’s the story behind Swiss Lane?
So, does anyone out there have any ideas? Someone left a comment on his entry that says:
It isn’t listed either in Les rues de Montréal (1995) which I thought included everything that merited an official street sign (it has Cérat, for example, although no explanation for the name). But I have a ghost memory of having heard an explanation for Swiss Lane at some point, so I’ll see what I can find out.
…maybe some of the folks at Mile-End Memories would know?
